Maybe Someday
by AdventureAddict
Summary: Oneshot. Ed's in a horrible mood. Well, more than usual, at least. When Al notices the limp to Ed's walk, he begins to wonder if maybe Ed's bad mood and his damaged automail are connected in some way. But Ed doesn't want to talk to Al about it. Edwin.


**Maybe Someday**

"Brother, would you stop storming around everywhere like that?" Al said with a sigh as he hurried after his older brother. Somehow, even being a suit of armor, Al's footsteps managed to be lighter than Ed's clomping. Ed scowled and looked over his shoulder at Al.

"Why not?" he grunted. "I don't want to be here, but that stupid Colonel Bastard is making us wait another two whole freaking days! We're just going to be sitting around doing nothing! Do know how much time lost that is?"

"Um… two… days?" Al tried nervously. Ed's scowled deepened and he turned back around.

"Oh, you'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" he muttered. "But I can guarantee that before those two stupid days are up, crow-shit brain will think up some other excuse for us to stick around for _another_ couple days, and then where will we be? Huh?"

"Um…"

"Nowhere, that's where!" Ed said, throwing up his arms for emphasis and in the process, nearly hitting a person walking past. "I'm not getting any younger, and I would _like_ for you to get your body back before I'm eighty!"

"Brother, not so loud," Al said with a nervous glance around. He knew that if someone in the military besides Mustang caught on to the fact that the Elric brothers had performed human transmutation, they would be in serious trouble.

"I'LL TALK AS LOUD AS I LIKE!" Ed suddenly shouted, stopping dead in his tracks and turning around to face Al. Al stared at his brother as if he had grown a pair of horns. Ed was always a little… volatile, but not quite to this extent.

"Um, Brother, is something wrong?" Al said, wondering to himself whether it was really a good question to ask. Ed scowled and turned back around to continue his brisk walk.

"Wrong? Something wrong? With me? Ha!" Ed ranted as he walked. Al sighed and shook his head. That confirmed it. Something was definitely wrong with Ed.

"What happened?" Al asked with a sigh. Ed's scowl deepened and he quickened his pace.

"I'm telling you, Al, nothing happened!" Ed snapped. "I'm fine! Never better! The only thing wrong is that bastard telling me we have to spend two days here doing _nothing_!"

Al shook his head as they reached the front doors of the military headquarters and stepped outside. Al knew that Ed wasn't the sort of person who enjoyed relaxing for a couple days and not doing so much, but he had never seen his brother get quite so upset over being forced to slow down for a couple days.

He looked at his brother again and noticed that he was walking with a slight limp. Al forced down a wave of panic coming up with crazy connections between Ed's limping and his horrible mood. It had to be something more reasonable. Maybe Ed was just growing and his automail had gotten a little small.

Al held back a snort.

"Brother, is there something wrong with your automail?" Al asked carefully. He watched Ed, and saw the angry face disappear and fade into a more gloomy expression.

"Yeah," Ed muttered. "I think it's the automail equivalent of pulling a muscle, only it means I need to get the 'muscle' replaced instead of just taking it easy and letting it heal."

"You can do that?"

"Apparently," Ed sighed. He scowled and looked down at his leg. "Hurts like hell."

"Well, why don't you call Winry?" Al suggested. "We can head out to see her during the two days off the Colonel gave you, and then you don't have to worry about sitting around!" Al thought it was brilliant. Take care of Ed _and_ get his mind off whatever had happened with a trip back home.

Ed stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to glare at Al. Apparently he didn't think it was quite so brilliant.

"No, Al," he growled before turning around again and stomping forward. Al punched a fist into his hand before sighing and hurrying after Ed. He had been so close, and Then Ed had went and snapped back into his angry mood.

"Would you tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Why not?" Al sighed, stepping in front of Ed and walking backwards just to be able to look his brother in the eye. Ed glared up at him.

"Because," Ed growled. "It's… it's… private!"

"You just don't want to tell me!" Al snapped back. Ed rolled his eyes and stopped walking with a sigh.

"Gee, Al, how long did it take you to figure that one out?" he sneered. "It's no wonder you're a prodigy, with insights like that!"

"There's no need to be a jerk, Brother!" Al snapped back. "Why don't you want to tell me? Do you not trust me?"

"No!"

"Then what's wrong?"

"Winry's in love with me, that's what's wrong!" Ed snapped. He then froze and licked his lips, seeming to realize what he had just said. Al stared at Ed silently for a moment before Ed grunted and pushed past Al to continue on his walk. Al hurried after him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Al asked as he reached Ed's side. Ed grunted and turned his head so he wasn't looking at Al.

"Not particularly."

"It would make you feel better," Al prodded. Ed sighed and stopped walking to stare at Al again.

"You're going to make me talk about it anyway, aren't you?" he said with a sigh. Al stayed silent. After a minute, Ed sighed again and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. You win, Al."

Al stayed silent, probing Ed to continue.

"I did whatever to my leg earlier today when I went to see Mustang," Ed started slowly. "I… I went to kick open the door, and it felt like something in my leg popped, and… well, next thing you know, I'm like this," he said, motioning down at his leg. Al sighed and shook his head. When would Ed ever learn?

"Anyway, Colonel Bastard was right there to see the whole thing, so he said he'd give me two days off to go see my mechanic, and I could call in sick days for however much longer I needed. So I…" Ed paused and shoved his hands in his pockets with a sigh. "So for _once_, I actually decided to call Winry and tell her I would be heading out. I… I partly wanted to know what was wrong with my leg, anyway, and I figured she'd be able to tell me."

"And she told me that all I had done was disconnected one of the wires, and all it would take is a couple minutes of me sitting still and a little flash of pain, and then I'd be back to normal. So I said thank you, and I'll be out there soon, and I was about to hang up when she got all… _weepy_ on me."

"Oh dear," Al sighed. Ed closed his eyes and nodded.

"She started crying into the phone and gushing over how I never, ever, _ever_ called her, and it was so good to hear from me, and she couldn't wait to see me again, and then she just… sort of… blurted it out," Ed said, trying to hide a blush by looking down at the road and scratching the back of his head. Al cocked his head to one side.

"She 'sort of blurted it out'?"

"Well, she…" Ed fidgeted, trying to look anywhere but towards Al. "She said something along the lines of 'Edward I can't wait to see you again! I've missed you so much! Why are you always putting yourself in danger! I'm always so scared that something will happen to you, and then I wouldn't know what to do because I LOVE YOU!'"

Al held back a chuckle. He knew he brother was upset and confused over the whole ordeal, but he had to admit, it was pretty funny how those two interacted with one another.

"Well, of course she loves you," Al said slowly. "We did all grow up together, and—"

"You know as well as I do that she meant it in a more romantic way than that, Al," Ed said, cutting Al off in the middle of his sentence. "Besides, I… Well, I mean… I just… I dunno…" Al did his best to still hold back his chuckling. He didn't mean it in a bad way, but Ed wouldn't appreciate it. He mostly wanted to chuckle at the fact that the two were so cute about one another.

"You love her too," Al finished for him. Ed jolted and stared up at Al with wide eyes as more blood very obviously rushed to his face.

"Well… I… But… You… Ah… She… We… How…?"

"It's obvious, Brother," Al said with an amused shake of his head. "So what did you tell her?"

Ed's expression darkened and he looked down at the pavement.

"Uh oh," Al muttered. "So _that's_ what you were so upset about. What did you say to her, Brother?"

"You know me too well for your own good," Ed muttered with a bitter chuckle as he looked back up at Al. Al decided not to tell him that anyone could read him easily when he wore his heart out on his sleeve. Ed sighed and ran a hand through his bangs."

"I told her I was sorry and hung up."

Al stared at Ed for a minute in disbelief. Was Ed out to ruin his own happiness? Why would he say something like that to Winry when he loved her back?

"Brother—"

"I know, Al," Ed muttered as he looked down at the ground again. "I just… I can't… I can't… _be_ with her like that when we're still out on the road. There's people who are out to get us, and they'll hurt the people we love in order to get to us, and… she's already at enough risk as it is. I couldn't…" Ed's voice wavered slightly, so he paused and wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

"I couldn't bear to see her get hurt," he finished in a whisper. "Maybe someday when all this is over, but right now…" he stopped again and wiped at his eyes a second time. "Right now I can't even bear the thought of going back there to get my leg fixed, just because it would mean I'd have to look her in the eye and…"

He trailed off and wiped at his eyes again, almost angrily.

"This is stupid," Ed muttered with a shake of his head. "I shouldn't be crying over something like this."

"Why not?" Al asked. He felt like his heart was breaking just watching Ed. He understood his brother's reasoning, but he also wanted so badly for Ed to get what he wanted, just once. Ed took a deep breath and looked up at Al.

"I just look weak and stupid crying over something like this. I've seen much worse things than this in my lifetime," Ed said with a sigh. He then did his best to put on a weak attempt at a smile before he lightly punched Al's arm. "Besides, there'll be some day where things will work out, right? Anyway, let's get going."

He made to start walking again, but Al grabbed him and wrapped him in a hug before he could manage to get anywhere. Ed grunted against Al.

"Crying doesn't make you weak, Brother," Al said softly. "That just shows that you care."

Ed relaxed against Al's grip before burying his head against Al's chest plate. Al thought he could hear soft sobs, but he didn't say anything. Ed didn't like other people seeing him cry, so Al would at least give him that.

When Ed finally pulled away from the hug, his eyes were red and puffy. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve, and when he pulled his arm away, his face was set in the same grim expression of determination he almost always wore.

"Come on, Al, let's go," Ed whispered. "We have a Philosopher's Stone to find."

**Aaaaah. Finally. I actually managed to write something, and something I LIKE! That feels soooo much better. **

**Anyway, I lost my flash drive. I know, horrible, right? Don't worry, the files are all safe… somewhere in my room. I even had a few chapters of things I was ready to post, but since I don't have the flash drive, I don't have the chapters. **

**Which also made me totally lose initiative to write, yaaaay. Meh. **

**So instead I wrote something that wasn't on my flash drive entirely. Whoohoo! Is it my first time writing Edwin? Really? Hm. I'm not sure. I didn't used to like Edwin, but I grew more and more fond of it as I matured a bit. **

**So… yep. Cross your fingers for me that I find my flash drive soon. I'm sleepy. Seeya all later! **


End file.
